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For TNBC patients, is it better to be BRCA negative? I thought I read that those who were BRCA NEG responded better to chemotherapy.

Replied

JHU's Breast Center Reply

12/21/2017

It is too general a statement to say that those who were BRCA negative responded better to chemotherapy. There is data that is specific to a particular chemotherapy drug (carboplatin) with triple negative breast cancer in patients with and without a BRCA gene mutation. It was found that women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation responded better to chemotherapy before surgery without the drug carboplatin, while women without a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation had better outcomes when carboplatin was added to the chemotherapy regimen.

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